Rock stars INXS mark 30 years with world tour

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Thursday, June 28, 2007

Farriss, who also has served as the band's primary songwriter since its formation in 1977, said it's also hard to compare original lead singer Michael Hutchence to current frontman J.D. Fortune. Hutchence, who rose to fame with such mega-hits as "Need You Tonight,""New Sensation,""Devil Inside,""What You Need" and "Suicide Blonde," was found dead in a hotel room Nov. 22, 1997, the victim of an apparent hanging.

Fortune, 33, landed the gig by outperforming 14 other finalists out of thousands of contestants on the CBS series "Rock Star: INXS" in 2005. Since then, the band has released "Switch," its first album in eight years. And INXS has toured the world. The band will play Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket on July 4.

"With J.D., we have a very different kind of songwriting relationship," Farriss said in a June 21 interview from London, England. "He's his own person and I have that respect level there, too, for him where I think he does for me. Being that he was a fan of the band before he became a singer, he obviously wants to try to contribute into that same sense of our body of work that he became a fan of.

"It's been so much better that J.D. has been a student of INXS' music or a fan because it also really helps when you're trying to create new music to have someone who knows about who you are and what you like and what keys you've written in and what your lyric form is like and what you're trying to express," Farriss added. "Having that coming from J.D. is really important -- whereas sometimes you work with professional writers who don't know that much about the body of work that you've done. It can be a bit funny because they don't know who you are!"

Andrew Farriss was born March 27, 1959 in Perth, Western Australia. Father Dennis served in the Royal Navy and worked as a journalist in London before taking a job at an insurance corporation. Mother Jill played tennis and squash.

Andrew's older brother Tim plays guitar in INXS, while their younger brother Jon is the band's drummer. They also have a younger sister, Alison.

Growing up, the Farriss' father played records by Latin and folk artists, "hootenanny bluegrass country stuff," and Ray Charles, who years later played live with INXS on David Letterman's show and recorded a duet with the band on 1993's "Full Moon, Dirty Hearts" LP.

After playing "concept rock" and ballads inspired by Pink Floyd and War in the band Dr. Dolphin -- which also included Hutchence and bassist Garry Gary Beers -- Farriss went on to form the Farriss Brothers in 1977. The group, which included Andrew, Tim and Jon Farriss; Hutchence; Beers; and guitarist-saxophonist Kirk Pengilly, soon changed its name to INXS. Save for Hutchence's untimely passing, the lineup has remained intact to this day.

"It overwhelms me at times in not so much a sentimental way, but we're very fortunate to have been able to go through such a journey and still remain friends," Andrew Farriss said. "That's one of the major accomplishments beyond anything. The brothers part of our band really helps too because when people get under pressure in situations, your family can really support you in ways that are hard to explain to other people. You know what the truth is when they're talking to you because you know them on that level. That helps a lot and that's been a bonding influence.

"And we all share a lot of common music styles that we like as fans and certain music that, especially in the very early years, we used to play a lot of funk and blues, disco stuff," he added. "And then it switched into punk and then it morphed into a mish-mash of all of those styles."

INXS debuted in the states with their fourth album, 1982's "Shabooh Shabooh." The band scored its first No. 1 album in Australia with 1984's "The Swing" and hit No. 11 in the states with 1985's "Listen Like Thieves" LP.

But it was 1987's album, "Kick," that earned the band its place in rock history. The album sold more than 10 million copies. It included the No. 1 smash "Need You Tonight," the No. 2 hit "Devil Inside," the No. 3 hit "New Sensation" and the No. 5 single "Never Tear Us Apart."

"That album was very intense, mainly because, just putting it in straight commercial terms, we had four Top Five hits in the U.S. alone off that one album," Farriss said. "I think Michael and I, to a certain degree, were kind of in shock. As songwriters, you're lucky if your song gets played on radio at all -- if anyone likes you! Or even if you get one hit, anyone says you're lucky to have that.

"So when we found ourselves in that position, yeah, it was overwhelming," he added. "We certainly began to consider very carefully what our next moves were gonna be and what we wanted to try and achieve. And at the same time it's very exciting too. That particular album, 'Kick,' broke all around the world. ... When we got to 'Kick,' it went everywhere and I think that was significant too. It seems like somehow or other, we pushed the button that the world could connect with one album and the music on it."

The band continued to churn out hit songs and albums, playing for crowds that topped 75,000 in London and 100,000 at Rock In Rio. Years later, after Hutchence's death, the band played its comeback concert before a crowd of 90,000 at Sydney's Olympic Stadium.

Released in 2005, the "Switch" LP reached No. 17 on the Billboard chart and has sold more than a million copies. Lead single "Pretty Vegas" reached No. 7 on the Adult Top 40 chart and No. 33 on the Pop 100 chart.

Farriss, who lives in Australia with his wife, Shelley, and their children, Grace, Josephine and Matthew, enjoyed co-writing two songs on the album with Fortune, who's from Canada. (A third track, "Amateur Night," didn't make the release.)

Knowing that "Rock Star: INXS" introduced a younger generation of fans to the band is rewarding as well, Farriss said.

"INXS is an international act, so for us to go on and choose a singer, we wouldn't necessarily choose somebody from Australia; they could come from anywhere in the world," he said. "I think 'Rock Star: INXS' was the first international reality TV show of its kind. To be a part of that was an incredible experience on lots of different levels.

"I think, for me, the art end of it and the music end of it, I have to admit, was a tremendous challenge," he added. "You told the world that you're gonna find a singer, make an album and go on tour. Well, it better be good! We were all very conscious of that. We had a legacy. We weren't someone's boardroom dream. We're actually a functioning professional unit of people."

The show begins at 8 p.m. in the casino's Fox Theatre on Route 2. Tickets are $66 and $55. Call (800) 200-2882.